Your skin is constantly repairing and renewing skin cells from damaged cells caused by the sun or injuries.

When caring for your skin, your doctor will usually recommend that you clean your wounds to prevent infection. Have you thought of ways to help your skin heal more quickly? Choosing the right foods can be the best way to provide proper skincare and prevent scars.

Here are four types of foodstuffs you can try.

Foods rich in vitamin C

Foodstuffs that contain large amounts of vitamin C are essential for healing your skin. When your skin heals, it needs collagen, which is the major protein that makes up your skin. In order to make collagen, you need vitamin C. Eating foods with vitamin C can promote skin healing by stimulating new skin cells to grow in the damaged area. In addition to this, vitamin C can also help the healing process by building new protein for the skin, scar tissue, tendons, ligaments and blood vessels.

Some foodstuffs that have lots of vitamin C are citrus fruits and leafy green vegetables. You can eat them raw or juice them to get all the nutrients. Nutrients are sometimes lost when food is cooked. More specifically, you could eat strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, baked potatoes, kiwi fruit, broccoli, spinach, cabbage and brussels-sprouts. The suggested amount of daily vitamin C intake is up to 200 mg, which is easily achieved by consuming at least one serving of these types of food per day.

Foods rich in vitamin A

Vitamin A is another vitamin that is a crucial antioxidant for your skin to heal as it can soothe infections and control the inflammatory response. Vitamin A can also promote collagen production, which is important for skin repair and renewal. But you should avoid consuming too much of this vitamin because it can lead to harmful effects such as dizziness, nausea, headaches and pain in the joints.

Some foodstuffs that contain lots of vitamin A include eggs, whole milk, fortified low-fat dairy products, yellow and orange-colored vegetables, red fruits, fish, dark green leafy vegetables, sunflower seeds, carrots, sweet potatoes, winter squash, Swiss chard and spinach.

(Read also: Why you should drink lemon water every morning)

Foods rich in protein

Protein contributes to the process of repairing your damaged skin. It helps rebuild damaged skin, collagen and blood vessels. If you don’t supply enough protein to your body, the healing process will be impaired. An adequate amount of protein helps to mend your cuts at an optimal rate. To make your skin heal faster in case of a major injury, you may need to take in more protein than normal but make sure you have consulted with your doctor or healthcare provider beforehand.

Foods rich in protein include lean meats, poultry, fish, soybeans, beans, low-fat dairy products, eggs, grass-feed beef, chicken, turkey, Greek yogurt, tofu, soy nuts and soy protein products.

Foods rich in zinc

Zinc is available in every single tissue in your body. This is the reason why it is very important in the healing process for any injury. Zinc can help the body synthesize proteins, utilize fats and develop collagen to promote growth and healing of damaged tissue. Similar to vitamin A, it also helps to keep your immune system strong so that you are protected from other infections or viruses. The level of zinc intake recommended by your doctor will vary from 15 to 50 mg per day.

Foods rich in zinc include oysters, nuts, seeds, fortified cereals, red meats, seafood, chicken, whole grains and breads.

A good and healthy diet can help your skin heal more quickly, raise the strength of your wound tissues, reduce recovery time and improve your body’s ability to fight off infections. If you have any concerns about your diet, do discuss this with your doctor. (kes)

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